Construction News

Residential Development in North Bayshore #

Our neighborhood, North Bayshore, has been changing steadily over the last few decades. Shoreline Park opened in 1983; it was built on landfill that used to be the city dump. Santiago Villa was built in the 1960s, when farms, orchards, and small ranch homes populated the neighborhood.

North Bayshore became Google headquarters starting in 2003, and over time the company added about 50 office buildings. The City Council realized that the area needed to be redeveloped to support a much larger population, so in 2014, the City’s planners developed the North Bayshore Precise Plan. This plan defined their vision for the new neighborhood, including areas to be developed for residential housing, and those that needed to be maintained as parks and environmental habitats.

A New City #

Over the last decade, we have seen major changes. Many new residential projects have been planned and approved by the City, and in the next decade, we are going to see a small city​ growing up around us.

There are four major developments being planned by the Sobrato Organization, Eden Housing, Google Real Estate and Workplace Services, and SyWest Development LLC.

Sobrato’s Mixed-Use Residential Development #

The Sobrato Organization has been keeping SVNA informed of their plans for two large developments in front of our park since 2017. They have sought and received our feedback on the development of those projects, one of which is now ready for occupancy.

The South Parcel, ROWE at Pear Village, is completed and has started leasing, but the surrounding amenities are still under construction. The North Parcel is only starting to be developed, as we can see from the heavy equipment in the large parcel on Space Park.

When both projects are completed, we will have access to some of the new ground-floor retail amenities that will serve those two projects. We discussed re-opening a gate into that development with Sobrato directly onto Pear, but we’ll first have to get buy-in from park management.

Eden Housing’s La Avenida Apartments #

Eden Housing is an affordable housing developer, and all 100 units in the building outside of our park on Armand will be leased by low-income tenants starting in August 2024. These apartments will be populated by tenants vetted by a social services organization, which will be located on the premises.

There is no parking on La Avenida, so the project includes an internal vehicle stacker for a limited number of cars. It’s still unclear whether parking will still be allowed on Armand between our park and La Avenida.

Google’s North Bayshore Master Plan #

Google’s Real Estate and Workplace Services (REWS) created a large, complex plan for three new neighborhoods in North Bayshore. The company planned to build about 7000 new apartments on Shorebird, Pear, and Joaquin over at least two decades. The new developments were designed to include amenities, services, and stores. They also planned to include a new elementary school.

After the global pandemic, those plans had to be changed. REWS is now reevaluating the project.

SyWest Development of the Gateway #

SyWest is the developer chosen by the Syufy family, which owns the local Cinemark Century Theatre. The theater and all of the surrounding buildings will be redeveloped in the next decade or so.

The large residential and retail project is only in the planning stages, and the fact that part of the Gateway property is owned by Google makes it unclear what the final result will be. But SyWest does have its elaborate plans documented in the City’s Legistar database if you’re interested in finding out more.